Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Clearing by Heather Davis

Amy, a sixteen-year-old recovering from an abusive relationship, moves to the country to start a new life with her aunt–all she wants is for everything to be different. In the clearing at the back of Aunt Mae’s property, she makes an amazing discovery—Henry, a boy stuck in the endless summer of 1944. Henry and his world become Amy’s refuge and she begins to learn that some moments are worth savoring. But when the past and present come crashing together, both of them must find the courage to face what is meant to be, even if it means losing each other forever.

The Clearing is a heartbreakingly beautiful tale of love between different decades. Mixing a sophisticated romance with touches of fantasy, I instantly fell for Amy and Henry’s impossible relationship.

It’s such a different breath of air after reading about vampires, angels, wizards, werewolves, faeries, etc. It’s hard to find a well-written, strict love story in young adult books today. I think that’s one of the reasons why I became so enthralled in The Clearing. There was nothing to push them; no heroic rescue missions from demonic creatures, no evil villain plotting against a girl, making her a damsel in distress to be rescued by some prince charming. Amy and Henry’s relationship developed the old fashioned way; feelings and friendship. Though the book was a bit short, but I think Heather Davis really succeeded in bringing their relationship to life.

Another thing I enjoyed was the flipping of stories between chapters. We didn’t just get Amy’s side of things, we saw how Henry struggled to keep up the charade of his endless summer to his family as well.

And one thing that determines when a book really gets to me? I cry. I don’t do it often. In fact, it’s really rare. But I bawled like a baby for this one. I even had to put it down one night, crawl in bed and cry some more. And when I woke up the next morning and picked the book back up again, it was extremely hard not to act on the urge to cry yet again.

Overall, I thought that The Clearing was an amazing twist of fantastical and contemporary romance, one that I definitely recommend to anybody in need of a heartfelt, star-crossed and gorgeous love story.

I can't wait to read this one! I'm giving this one away on my blog, but I definitely think I will have to order a second one for myself!! :)Glad you enjoyed it---and I really LOVE when books are amazing enough to make me cry!